BBC iPlayer to Start Offering HD Streams and Downloads

In a posting on its Web site, Thursday, the BBC announced that its catch-up service, the BBC iPlayer (which it says has generated over 387 million requests to stream or download since its launch on December 25th, 2007), is to start offering HD streams and downloads of certain programs. The corporation also said that the updated iPlayer will now offer a diagnostic tool that examines each end-user's Internet connection and switches the player to whichever streaming option will provide the best viewing experience. In addition, the iPlayer will now allow users to customize the size of its viewing window. "Introducing HD streams [allows] users to enjoy BBC programs in HD without a set-top box," Anthony Rose, the BBC's head of digital media technology, said in a prepared statement. "The new adaptive bitrate technology and speed diagnostics page help optimize the viewing experience, while the resizable window gives users flexibility to switch between different quality streams, hopefully leading to a more satisfying experience overall." Other new features include an Internet speed diagnostics page, the full release of the new BBC iPlayer Desktop, and a cross-platform manager that the BBC says will allow Windows, Mac and Linux users to download BBC programs in HD. While the new HD service will initially be available only in the online implementation of the BBC iPlayer, the corporation says that plans are in the works to make it available in the versions of the iPlayer offered on cable operator Virgin Media's VOD platform and on Sony's PlayStation 3 gaming console.